From Tiger to Bengal, Ja’marr Chase’s Impact on the Cincinnati Bengals
The decision by the Cincinnati Bengals to draft Louisiana State University (LSU) wide receiver, Ja’marr Chase, over Oregon offensive tackle Penei Sewell was controversial and criticized. Following the season-ending knee injury suffered by rookie quarterback Joe Burrow, there was an urgent need to solidify the offensive line and protect their most important asset. Penei Sewell was regarded as a very highly graded draft prospect coming out of the University of Oregon. Sewell and Chase both sat out of the 2020 season due to COVID-related reasons and opted to declare for the 2021 NFL Draft.
There were a few reasons why selecting Sewell would be a beneficial choice. He would help the Bengals offense in pass protection and reignite a rushing offense with Joe Mixon at runningback. The Bengals did not necessarily need to draft a wide receiver with the fifth overall pick. At the time, they had Tyler Boyd and Tee Higgins at the top of their depth chart. The 2021 draft class was also extremely deep at wide receivers, with an abundance of first-round talent being projected in the second or third round. Personally, a combination of Sewell plus a choice of Rondale Moore, Terrace Marshall Jr., Elijah Moore, or Amari Rodgers was much more appealing than Ja’marr Chase plus later-round offensive line talents like Teven Jenkins, Landon Dickerson, or Liam Eichenberg. In regards to the offensive line, the Bengals ultimately drafted Clemson tackle, Jackson Carman, in the second round, and Georgia tackle, Trey Hill, in the sixth round. Former first-round pick Jonah Williams and new free agent signing Riley Reiff would serve as the starting tackles.
On the contrary, the benefit of selecting Chase was the established chemistry with Joe Burrow during their time at LSU. A special connection between two highly touted draft picks on the same side of the ball is not common. And in an offensive-driven league, he could certainly provide a spark to the Bengals’ offense and contribute to their success.
Ja’marr Chase has certainly impressed the league and surpassed many doubters’ expectations, including myself. He broke the rookie receiving record, passing former LSU teammate Justin Jefferson with 1455 yards. He tallied 13 touchdowns and an impressive 18 yards per reception. For the time being, the selection for Chase appears to be a stellar decision. While watching the Bengals, there are three things I noticed with the addition of the rookie receiver.
- The Expansion of the Field
- Establishing the Rushing Offense
- The Impact on Joe Burrow
The main priority for the Cincinnati Bengals is to surround Joe Burrow with premier talent and provide him with the resources to succeed. They decided to capitalize on their opportunity to draft the flashy receiver over the boring, yet reliable offensive tackle. The NFL is currently at its peak for offensive caliber talent, and de facto general manager Duke Tobin and head coach Zac Taylor were seeking the spark to their offense. Let’s see if they made the right decision.
The Expansion of the Field
As a poised deep threat, Chase’s ability to stretch the field in a quick manner allows the two other receivers, Tyler Boyd and Tee Higgins, to take on the role of possession receivers. They present themselves as the medium-depth, reliable security blanket for Burrow. The benefit of having three above-average receivers with different skill sets is that the defenses must prepare and account for anything on pass coverage. Because of this, it takes away the defense’s attention on the rush attack which allows the Bengals to establish the run game, leading to a more efficient offense.
Among receivers with at least 80 total receptions, Chase ranks in 1st place in the league for an average depth of target (ADOT) with 12.6 yards. This means that not only is his average reception deeper than most receivers, but he’s also doing it on a consistent basis which expands the offense’s performance and ability.
There are other receivers that possess a higher ADOT which is due to their role as a splash play receiver. However, they seldom see the field which limits their overall contribution to the offense. All ten of these receivers consistently see the field and are subject to an abundance of targets.
The graph above displays the top 10 quarterbacks ranked by Touchdown Percentage. This metric is described as the percentage of touchdowns thrown when attempting to pass. A takeaway from this statistic is that it indicates which teams have an explosive passing attack that is highly capable in their ability to score when close to the endzone. This measure is similar to scoring efficiency but concentrates solely on touchdowns, rather than including field goals. Burrow and the Bengals rank 3rd in the league in 2021 with a touchdown percentage of 6.5%. This means that 6.5% of their passing attempts result in a touchdown. Compared to the 2020 season, the Bengals ranked 27th in the league with a touchdown percentage of 3.3%. In one season, the Bengals’ offense nearly doubled their touchdown percentage, indicating that their passing attack has developed to be more explosive.
With no significant changes within the coaching staff from last year, I really like this statistic to show that the coaching staff is utilizing Chase’s skill set to open up the field and allow the offense to operate at a high scoring level. This shows how his presence as a deep threat receiver on the field is beneficial to the overall offensive success. Defenses need to stay prepared in all facets including the long ball, which the Bengals offense lacked last year.
As Chase’s performance and presence helped expand the field, it allows the rushing attack to establish itself as defenses can no longer stack the box against Cincinnati like they used to. This leads to the next topic of discussion, how the newfound passing offense affects and promotes the running game.
Establishing the Rushing Offense
The Bengals have been waiting for running back (RB) Joe Mixon to solidify himself as the premier three-down back that can be compared to other notable running backs for a few seasons now. After two good seasons in 2018–2019 and an injury-ridden 2020, Mixon has flourished in 2021 posting 292 attempts, 1205 rushing yards, and 13 rushing touchdowns. He exceeded his season-high rushing yardage total and has eclipsed his season-high touchdown total.
The graph observed above is the rushing yard leaders in the season. Colts RB Jonathan Taylor had a stellar season but Mixon posting 3rd overall is a huge improvement from last year. Mixon rushed for 1205 yards this year and was an integral part of the offensive success this year.
This chart above represents the league leaders in rushing first downs among running backs. I like to look at first downs as it can explain how reliable a running back is in advancing the ball and moving the chains. This statistic really helps inform the audience of how efficient they are in extending drives and giving their offense more chances to potentially score. The most notable aspect within this chart is how dominant Colts RB Jonathan Taylor is this season in accumulating first downs. He managed to record 107 first downs this season. If we ignore Taylor, one can see that Joe Mixon is not that far behind in terms of first downs, recording 60. Last year, Mixon only played in 6 games due to injury and recorded 20 total rushing first downs. Even though Giovani Bernard played in all 16 games last season, he managed to only muster 23 rushing first downs. Clearly, the Bengals rushing offense last year was not efficient within this metric. Fortunately, they were able to perform much better this season.
How does this Impact Joe Burrow?
As mentioned above, the primary concern for the Bengals organization is to surround Joe Burrow with premier talent. This will provide Burrow with the resources to succeed and lead the franchise to success. I evaluate quarterback success based on the criteria of improvement. Do you steadily improve in your metrics and statistics? And within these metrics, I compare quarterbacks with their competitors. Although each quarterback improves at their own rate, in today’s impatient world, we like to compare quarterbacks against each other. The graph below displays the completion percentage for each quarterback in the 2021 season.
Burrow finished 1st in Completion Percentage with 70.4%. A completion percentage above 70% is extraordinary and uncommon therefore this metric is something to be proud of. This is an immense improvement over last year’s completion percentage of 65.3% which ranked twenty-second in the league. This indicates an adjustment that helped his overall accuracy. I believe that accuracy is an essential indicator while evaluating quarterback play. The quarterback’s objective is to deliver passes on time and on target. If they fail to fulfill the objective a few times here and there, it accumulates throughout the season very quickly. Missing completions can stall drives, frustrate coaches, and reduce player morale.
Another aspect that affects quarterback play is offensive line protection. An easy metric to look at for offensive line play is the number of sacks given up. But even more indicative is the amount of pressures they allow. Pressures are more indicative of poor offensive play than sacks because of their capacity to interfere with the quarterback. Pressures lead to quarterbacks not setting their feet correctly, not going through the entire read, rushing their throws, etc. Those were plays that occurred that have the potential to lead to a sack, and not being confident and comfortable in your throws can lead to turnovers.
However, sacks are still an important metric to consider.
Observing the two graphs above, although the Bengals were 6th in quarterback pressures allowed, and they gave up the most sacks in the league with 51. Usually, a high number of sacks may not be an indicator of poor pass protection, but rather, explained by coverage sacks. A coverage sack is a sack that occurs not necessarily because of penetration from the defensive line, but more because the receivers are covered so well that the defensive line has lots of time to make it to the quarterback. It could be an indicator that the coaching staff should change up the play calling to allow Burrow to throw into more open windows. But, what Burrow underwent is inexcusable. 51 sacks are far too many sacks for your franchise quarterback to take, who in his second year, has already suffered from a season-ending knee injury.
So far, the selection of Ja’marr Chase has contributed to the revitalized success of the offense and has exceeded my expectations. I will admit that this season has forged a newfound identity for Zac Taylor and the Cincinnati Bengals. This is beneficial in promoting and ensuring the players buy into a team culture. However, protecting the number one asset, Joe Burrow, should remain the primary focus of the organization. Perhaps they will prioritize their attention on the offensive line in the next offseason. But until then, it seems like the Bengals found their guy.
